Adware pushed on MySpace

Adware pushers are joining the MySpace.com game, and they're not trying to hide. Christopher Boyd, a researcher at security company FaceTime, found two profiles called "Zango" on the popular social networking Web site.

Zango is a notorious advertising software maker, recently formed out of the merger of 180solutions and Hotbar.

One of the MySpace profiles pushed a toolbar and programs designed to "protect kids from predators," Boyd wrote in a blog entry over the weekend. The other popped up an extra window prompting the visitor to accept a licence to play a video file, he wrote.

"If you do (accept the license), you'll be installing the Zango Search Assistant and Toolbar," Boyd wrote.

The Zango profiles were created by a company developer, according to a TechWeb report. It was a mistake, a company spokesman told TechWeb, saying the company doesn't really want to target MySpace.

The two Zango profiles on MySpace should soon be deleted, according to Zango. They were still online on Wednesday, but only one appears to be pushing toolbar software. The other profile looks quite empty.

Zango, based in Bellevue, Wash., makes software that delivers pop-up ads as people perform Web searches and toolbars with ad displays for Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Outlook and Outlook Express.